Norwegian Encore Cruise Reviews - Reviews

What an amazing cruise, beautiful ship ,breathtaking ports, couldn’t ask for anything more

Our first time to Alaska, it was wonderful. NCL Encore is a great ship with plenty of bar and restaurants for open spaces, loved the layout of the ship. Covid pre boarding process was pretty easy and took about 1.5 hours to get on the ship. Kind of like Disney World just move from station to station and before you know it you are on the ship.

We enjoyed every minute of our cruise. The only thing was is that we would have loved a longer time in Juneau. There wasn't much to do in Icy Straights, that port could have been cut shorter.

An excellent cruise. The staff as well as the passengers were all glad to be back at sea. The ship is virtually new and well designed. NCL did a great job of handling the Covid vaccine requirements and pre-boarding testing went smooth and a great piece of mind for all aboard.

This cruise was exceptionally good, Icy Point Straight a new feature since I was last there in 2018. They have 2 sets of Gondolas, one to head for the cannery and the other one to go up in the mountains and Rope Course now besides the zip line.

It was so good to be back at sea, and the crew and everyone in Alaska welcomed us back like long lost relatives. The excursions were exciting, whale watching, white water rafting, zip lining, visiting native village with totem pole carving exhibit, and a fun lumberjack show.

This is an awesome cruise/itinerary with good ports of call. Unfortunately, a delay due to a medical emergency at sea which involved an RCAF air-sea helicopter rescue of one of the passengers, the cruise line skipped the Skagway stop. Icy Strait point was nice and it appears that there is a lot of development going on there -- will be interesting to see how that progresses in the future. Juneau was a nice port of call -- try the Mount Roberts tramway and hike the trails overlooking the city. We did the NLC excursion which you take a small boat into Endicott Arm, get up close and personal with the Dawes glacier, and then rendezvous with the ship in the middle of Endicott Arm. Highly recommend this excursion. Highlight of the cruise for us. The Ketchikan stop however was a disorganized mess. My understanding is NCL built their own dock outside the city which is where Encore tied up. The dock is 8 miles from the city. OK, so shuttle buses were provided -- for $8 for a roundtrip. Seems a little cheap on NCL's part not to provide the shuttle gratis since we could have docked at the port in the city. But the worst part was the chaos in the terminal. there were insufficient shuttle buses to handle the influx and the wait to board the buses was 1-2 hours depending on when you left the ship. Given that the ship arrived over an hour late and you could spend up to 3 hours waiting for and riding on buses, this stop was a complete waste of time for us. We understand that standing in line is sometimes unavoidable, but this was ridiculous -- I'm on vacation, I don't want to waste my time in a queue for 2 hours. I suggest NCL figure out a more efficient process to move passengers from their new port to the city of Ketchikan or go back to docking in the city. And our ship was only 60% full -- this situation will only get worse when they return to full capacity sailings. VERY disappointed in NCL. We will be avoiding Ketchikan on any future NCL Alaska sailings until this situation is improved.

Our experience with embarkation, and throughout the entire ship was spectacular. With a few communication, adjustments, the ports would have been better. Loved cruising without a mask. Disembarkation wretched!

This was the first cruise back for Norwegian. They did an incredible job and I am so glad it was my first cruise back as well. Cruising is better than ever!

First cruise back in North America for NCL. It was an amazing vacation and you could tell everyone including the staff was excited to be back. Onboard entertainment, food and the ship itself was immaculate.

We would definitely do a cruise again and with NCL. I think the RCCL was just a few steps behind as far as entertainment and activities.

I wish I could have seen more of Puerto Rico . I’m wondering if the insurance would cover that

The Encore is a beautiful ship and the staff is wonderful. Food was amazing every place we ate. Ate at taste one night and had a delicious steak, done perfect and so tender & juicy👌

7 day cruise or more is too much. 4 day cruises and resorts would probably be the better way to go. No, time strains.

My cruise was relaxing a little cold but that is the weather . I wish the spa prices weren’t so expensive so I could have enjoyed a few more treatments .

Overall we had an awesome time. The people were great on the ship as well as the ports. The islands are beautiful just wish the excursions were more organized and you had more time.

Food and service was good. We were never able to get a lounge chairs the pool all week. It cost $200.00 a person to use adult area. Go carts cost $15.00 a person and laser tag was never open. Only a few hot tubs available and were always packed with kids. We do not recommend this shop. We have been on the Norwegian escape and it was great, not the encore.

I had an amazing time. I loved finding quiet places on the ship to read and watch the ocean go by. Deck 8 has a lot of outdoor seating and the observation lounge has great indoor seating. I wish the watermelon was seedless but I guess beggars can’t be choosers :)

Would definitely cruise again on this ship...loved the water front and Le Bistro....large gym could use a leg press machine though

Never been so unhappy on a vacation. Rough waters, and overall terrible. Only highlights were the islands. Never wanted to get back on that ship.